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Exploring the lives and spirituality of early Christian women, this book highlights the significant yet often overlooked contributions of female figures in the desert and monastic movements from the third century onward. It features the sayings of desert ammas, accompanied by reflective commentary, encouraging readers to connect their spiritual journeys with these historical narratives. Organized alphabetically, the stories reveal a rich history of female leadership in Christianity, making it an essential resource for those interested in early church history, women's studies, and spirituality.

The beguines began to form in various parts of Europe over eight hundred years ago. Beguines were laywomen, not nuns, and they did not live in monasteries. They practiced a remarkable way of living independently, and they were never a religious order or a formalized movement. But there were common elements that these medieval women shared across Europe, including their visionary spirituality, their unusual business acumen, and their courageous commitment to the poor and sick. Beguines were essentially self-defined, in opposition to the many attempts to control and define them. They lived by themselves or in communities called beguinages, which could be single homes for just a few women or, as in Brugge, Brussels, and Amsterdam, walled-in rows of houses where hundreds of beguines lived together--a village of women within a medieval town or city. Among the beguines were celebrated spiritual writers and mystics, including Mechthild of Magdeburg, Beatrijs of Nazareth, Hadewijch, and Marguerite Porete--who was condemned as a heretic and burned at the stake in Paris in 1310. She was not the only beguine suspected of heresy, and often politics were the driving force behind such charges. The beguines, across the centuries, have left us a great legacy. They invite us to listen to their voices, to seek out their wisdom, to discover them anew.

A much needed research and reference bibliography for all who are interested in the history of Benedictine Women in North America. Those interested in Benedictine spirituality, liturgy and prayer will find useful resources here as well.

In introducing readers to the sayings, lives, stories, and spirituality of women in the early Christian desert and monastic movement, the author finally sets the record straight that women played an important, influential role in early Christianity. The book journeys between desert, monastery, and city to reveal the stories of ascetics and solitaries whose stories rarely are heard. schovat popis